Northwest Community Hospital

WIN 2015

Spirit of Women magazine is a national publication presented to women by hospitals and their physicians. The magazine provides up-to-date, evidence-based healthcare information and promotes our hospitals as leaders in women's health excellence.

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 18 of 31

1 9
w w w. s p i r i t o f w o m e n . c o m W I N T E R 2 015 S P I R I T O F W O M E N
Take a tip from Toastmasters
Toastmasters International, a global organization that teaches
public speaking skills, recommends these additional tips for
boosting your public speaking skills and alleviating your fears.
• Get to your speaking location early so you can walk around
and practice with the microphone and other equipment
you'll be using.
• Say hello to audience members as they arrive so that they
seem less like strangers to you.
• Start by addressing the audience to buy yourself some time
and help calm your nerves. Before you say that frst
word, pause, smile and count to three.
• Don't point out your nervousness to the
audience—chances are that they'll never
even notice it.
F
rom the American Psychological Association
to comedian Jerry Seinfeld, it's unanimous:
Most people fear public speaking more
than they fear death.
"I would say that most people have a
fear of public speaking, but to varying degrees," agrees
Jane Praeger, a faculty member at Columbia University
and one of the foremost U.S. experts on overcoming
fear of public speaking. "It's often relative to the situa-
tion. Someone may be comfortable speaking in one
setting and not in another."
So you're in good company if you suffer from what's
technically known as glossophobia, a common social
anxiety disorder that's also relatively easy to overcome
or at least learn to live with, say experts.
WHY IT HAPPENS
The number of people in the room is often a key factor
in how comfortable you'll feel speaking in public, says
Praeger. For some, it takes an entire auditorium to bring
on nervousness, while others begin feeling anxiety the
minute there are more than four or five in the audience.
In addition, a fear of public speaking is not neces-
sarily something you're born with. Praeger says people
often develop it with changed circumstances or in
certain very specific situations.
"Sometimes, when people have a new job, or they
have a tough new boss, it can make them feel very
insecure all of a sudden," says Praeger, founder of Ovid
Inc., a speech, presentation and media training firm.
"Then, once they stumble or have a case of nerves in
one presentation or meeting, it can make them even
more nervous for the next time."
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
No matter what brings on a fear of public speaking, the
cure is the same, says Praeger: good solid preparation
ahead of time.
"The big problem I encounter when I work with
people is that they have this idea that they're supposed
to wing it, and that only naturally good speakers are
comfortable in front of crowds, but that's not true,"
Praeger explains. "Good speakers are absolutely
meticulous in their preparation."
Here are some of Praeger's top strategies for feeling
more comfortable when you speak in public:
Examine your content. Be careful of too much jargon,
or of trying to cram every single thing you know into
your talk. You are telling a story, and that story should
be colorful and have a strong theme. Even if you're not
speaking from a prepared text, it can be effective to
write out your speech ahead of time and then collapse
it into bullet points to which you can refer.
Think of yourself as a conduit. People are there to listen
because they want something from you. They are not
there to judge. Instead of stewing over what you are
going to say and what they will think of you, think about
what your audience needs to hear. Approach your pre-
sentation as a gift to your audience, and shift your focus
from you to them.
Desensitize yourself. Don't try to give the keynote talk at
a huge meeting when you're new to public speaking.
Instead, start by practicing with two or three people with
whom you are comfortable. Ask them not to speak or
critique, but to take a step toward you when they're feel-
ing engaged, and a step back when they feel themselves
drifting. You'll get instant, visceral feedback that tells you
where your talk is working and where it is failing.
Rehearse and imagine. Praeger says it's ideal to rehearse
while walking, swimming or showering because the
vestibular (inner ear) stimulation enables you to practice in
a way that's very effective. Also, spend some time imagin-
ing that you're making your speech, with the audience
receiving it positively and people coming up afterwards
to tell you how much they enjoyed it.
"Find a story you can tell well and that is relevant
and meaningful, and step out of your own skin and into
your audience's," explains Praeger. "You'll find what is
interesting to them."
•
4
SHUTTERSTOCK